The present invention relates to liquid containers, especially large capacity containers that are formed of plastic material and used for drinking or pouring purposes. More particularly, the invention relates to a simple and inexpensive arrangement for positively fixedly attaching a separately formed handle member to the container.
Liquid-bearing containers for drinking or pouring purposes that are formed of plastic material are well known. For example, thermally-insulated containers of the described type are inexpensively produced by forming the container of mutually spaced inner and outer shell members between which an empty plenum or one filled with a heat insulating material, such as polyurethane foam, is created. In the past it has been the practice to form the components of such containers and the handle member thereof separately for subsequent attachment thereto by conventional plastic molding procedures with the attachment of the handle members to the containers being effected by way of ultrasonically effected bonds produced by placing the handle member in engagement with the exterior surface of the container while ultrasonically vibrating the handle member to produce a fusion between the concerned components.
While the ultrasonic bonding of handle members of plastic material to containers formed of similar material is found to be suitable for containers of relatively small capacity, such as drinking cups adapted to contain less than about forty ounces of liquid, it has been determined that handle members cannot be effectively attached by this method to liquid bearing containers of greater capacity. Handles for drinking cups or pouring pitchers holding upwards of such amounts of liquid have not been effectively retained in connected engagement to large capacity containers when bonded thereto by such ultrasonic welding procedures.
It is to the amelioration of this problem, therefore, that the present invention is directed.